The Mayans and Egyptians were two very developed and progressive civilizations in their respective times. The Maya were an advanced civilization centered in the Americas, which stood out from the other natives in that region as a result of their well-rooted government and prevalent religion. The Egyptians had been an established civilization since mankind’s most primal days as a thriving center of trade with a powerful god-king, called the pharaoh. Both have certain characteristics that are very comparable, and with similarities and differences.
One of Maya and Egypt’s most unique traits, was their religion. Both civilizations had a theocratic government, which heavily incorporated their gods and recognized the head-of-state as a god himself.
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Whether they were for science, architecture, or system of government, both Maya and Egypt had some great notable accomplishments. The Maya deeply associated their astronomical excellence with their religion. An example of this is how they aligned and situated Chichen Itza to have sunlight and shadow form the shape of a snake on two days of the year when the sun shines on it. The Egyptians also had some notable scientific achievements. In order to predict the flooding of the Nile, Egyptian priests discovered it was necessary to ditch the lunar calendar and adopt the solar calendar, making a year 365 days with 12 months. Although the Mayans later on discovered this system, the Egyptians can be credited with developing the first 365 day calendar. It is clear that the Mayans and Egyptians achieved what many other civilizations in their era couldn’t, and this is one of the main facts that sets these two apart from the …show more content…
Generally, all social structures consist of an upper, middle, and lower class. In the cases of Maya and Egypt, what class a certain citizen would belong to would be determined by his social status, profession, income, or religious status. In Egypt, the upper class always consisted of the pharaoh, high priests, and other people with or given divine status. Egypt’s lower class consisted of slaves, servants, and farmers, while their middle class consisted of soldiers, merchants, and artisans. The Mayan social structure was similar to Egypt’s. At the top were the kings, priests, and people deemed divine. The Mayan middle class was slightly different from Egypt’s, as it consisted of farmers, laborers, and servants. The Mayan lower class consisted of slaves and serfs, which worked for the local town leader. While the Mayan and Egyptian social structures were only slightly different, they were efficient in classifying people as upper, middle, or lower class
Furthermore, their society consisted of four social classes. Their four social classes were made up of pilli (nobles), machehualles (commoners), and tlacotin (slaves). These classes showed an order of power with the pilli being the most powerful and tlacotin being the least powerful. In the empire most of the high positions were inherited but one could obtain a high position by serving the emperor. The social classes among the Aztecs grew the social classes became sophisticated and complex as soon as they began to construct their empire.
...ayan society and as its own concepts were passed down to our own calendar; the Maya accomplished the feat of time mastery first.
The first important aspect in the Aztec’s culture was class structure. At the top of the structure is the ruler. The ruler was considered semi-divine and the spot was not hereditary. When the emperor died, a group of advisors chose the next emperor. Nobles came next on the list. The most common jobs for nobles were government officials, priests, and military leaders. All these jobs were appointed by the emperor. Government officials collected tribute, worked as judges, or governed the city. Priests would either run schools or study the stars and made predictions for the future. Military leaders led armies into battle. Below the nobles were the commoners. Most commoners were farmers ,while others were craftspeople. The highest ranked commoner was the pochteca. They went far to get distant goods and served as spies. They have special privileges such as owning land and sending their kids to noble school. After them were the peasants. About one third of the population were peasants. They would lend their service to the nobles. Slaves were on the bottom of the class structure. They were prisoners of war, lawbreakers, or debtors. Most slaves can work their way out of slavery while the rest would be sacrificed. Class structure was important because it was the base of the empire.
The Maya, Aztec and Inca were 3 civilisation’s put together and then either conquered, or abandoned, but still they all left their footprint in society today. All three of the civilisation’s had a lot of similarities, but also some differences. Some similarities included how they all practiced the art of human sacrifice. Though some differences creep through the cracks like how the Inca focused on the llama, that animal majorly played importance to their culture. The Aztec was also the most brutal of the three. The Mayan empire was located in Mexico and central America, they started the civilisation in 2000 B.C.-250 A.D. The Aztecs, however, started their empire in 1100 A.D-1522 A.D., they were located in what is now Mexico City. Finally, the Inca were located throughout the Andes mountains, and started at 1432 A.D.-1532 A.D.
Maya societies were clearly divided into two classes, the elite and the commoners. This distinction was usually made by who had more power and wealth, a person was usually born into both. The Elite had control over the politics and religion in each city (Sharer, “Social Stratification”). The vast majority of people were considered commoners, but how do you tell which ones are commoners, and which are Elites? Architecture gives us the biggest clue to who had this power and wealth, and who did not. “Monument building and elaborate, vaulted tomb chambers indicate the presence of social ranking and ruling elites. It is likely that ancestor worship was acquiring more weight as the rulers became ever more responsible for acting as intermediaries with the gods and ancestors for the benefit of their people” (Fash). One of the biggest archaeological insights into Maya lifestyles is art...
The Mayans were best known for the cities they built and the slash-and-burn farming method they used. The Egyptians were best known for building the gigantic pyramids and for the way they honored pharaohs. Both of these civilizations have had an impact on the way we live today. Both of these civilizations had similar religious beliefs as well. They both believed in many gods, which means that they were, polytheists.
There were also many differences in detail. Egyptians believed the sun god and the land god, including Atum which was in human form, Re which had human body and falconhead, Osiris which represented resurrection, Isis... In Olmec, people considered Jaguar as the most powerful predator; they believed were-Jaguar, bred by a human woman and a Jaguar, was their ancestor. They had semblable system of religion, but believed different
Society formed three main social groups. This new social pyramid is executed in Image 2 (Document 1: The Royal Standard of Ur). The mosaic artwork depicts three scenes stacked upon each other in horizontal strips. At the bottom men are burdened with heavy sacks of food on their backs. These people are apart the lowest social rank: workers and slaves. The picture above illustrates the second tier of the society are farmers, probably the middle class, as people leading animals and carrying fish. On the top is a king, large in size compared to the others in the image, and his subjects at a party enjoying drinks and live music. The main social classes were the wealthy and powerful, agriculturalists, and the lachrymose workers. Social status determined housing conditions. A clear example of social division is Image A: Early Egyptian City. The illustration is divided into two sections. On one side of the Egyptian city there are small, crude buildings conglomerated together. These buildings are inhabited by the poor. On the opposite side of the picture, the buildings are more defined and a majority are spread farther apart. Some buildings are even standing on an individual plot of land. This is the affluent part of the city. Those who were less fortunate lived shoulder to shoulder, while the rich lived separate from them in more spacious
Aztec society was broken down into several social classes under a king. Below the King were the pipiltin or the nobles who received a full education, served in prestigious government positions, and were allowed to own land. Below the nobles, were the ordinary citizens known as the macehualtin who were separated by geographic family regions and were offered communal lands and schools that would help them pursue jobs as artisans, merchants, or military soldiers. The third class were the slaves known as the mayeques. Apart from those three classes, other important members of Aztec society included religious scholars recognized as the wise men or tlamatinime.
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society. The major Mayan gods and goddesses all have common characteristics and, according to “features which they share in large part with the gods of neighboring people of Middle America” (Thompson, 198). One of these characteristics is that Mayan gods and goddesses have “features which they share in large part with the gods of neighboring people of Middle America” (Thompson, 198).
A consistent characteristic among the first civilizations was social stratification. In most of the first civilizations, social hierarchies included kings, the elites, the working class, and slaves. Social stratification was evident in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies based off of the documents from the Babylonian Empire, The Law Code of Hammurabi, and the Egyptian student text, Be a Scribe. In the document The Law Code of Hammurabi, soldiers, farmers, salves, and other jobs are mentioned (96-97). In the document Be a Scribe, farmers, cobblers, soldiers, and various other jobs are mentioned (100-101). It is significant that these jobs are mentioned in both documents because it illustrates the similarities in these civilization’s social hierarchies. But, the similarities in their social structures do not end there. Special treatment based off of social standing was a consistent factor in both of these civilizations as well. This is clearly exemplified in Mesopotamia with the harshness of punishments for crimes being dependent on class (97). In Egypt, evidence of special treatment based off of social stratification is insinuated in the document Be a Scribe. This document delves into the negatives of having low class jobs and encourages people to become educated to grow in class rank (101). Despite these similarities, these two civilizations still held vastly different values and
The European and Mayan civilizations had inverse experiences during the Classical era, but they were similar in some aspects. While the Mayans were basking in their glorious success as a civilization, the Europeans stood in their shadow. However, after the Renaissance Era, it was as if the Mayans stood in the shadow of the European revival. These two societies have a definite inverse relationship, in that while one was succeeding, the other was squandering. For example, the forward thinking of the Mayans and their knowledge of arithmetic and science was overshadowed by the revolutionary ideas created by European scientists, the fact that the Mayans had created a complex, and accurate calendar wasn’t nearly as celebrated as a European man who got hit by an apple.
19) The Assyrian social classes compare to the classes that existed under Hammurbi's Babylon because the vast majority of the people according to the Assyrian social class worked on the land, and individual artisans and small workshops in the towns manufactured pottery, tools, and clothing. While under Hammurabi's Babylon, there were free, landowning slaves, farmers and citizens, and slaves. Both the Assyrian social classes and Hammurabi's Babylon had similar social classes in their society.
These civilizations present many resemblances that were once part of the foundations of their society. Although both of these civilizations were at one point enemies of one another, they had similar correlations that shaped and formed their cultures and societies. The main difference between these two civilizations is religion. Without its differences, each civilization had governed its people in manners that it could not be differentiated among each other. Overall, these civilizations presented different methods of leading a civilization and still had similarities among one another.
Maya civilization was based mainly on agriculture and religion. Maya every day life revolved around an innumerable number of earth Gods. The most important God was chief, ruler of all Gods. The Mayans prayed to these God’s particularly about their crops. For example, they prayed to the Rain God to nourish their crops. They practiced their religion during ceremonies conducted by priests. They also practiced confession and even fasted before important ceremonies (Gann and Thompson 1931 118-138). The Mayans also b...